Coloring Black&White movies - Is the software to do that

[killmore]

Coloring Black&White movies - Is the software to do that?

There was so much hype about it a while ago - is there a way a home user can do that with correct software?

[BJ_M]

i dont know of any (for a home user) = its done by hand and a hardware/software solution ($200,000) in a studio ...

which most of the time isnt that great anyway ....


i wouldnt be supprised that somewhere - someplace , there is a shareware version .. though the quality may be suspect .

[negon]

umm, consider it's captured in black and white this doesn't seem possible......

[BJ_M]

hmmm , never seen a colorized movie ?

[mp3superfreak]

I occasionally convert B&W pictures to color for clients, and it literally takes HOURS per still image. I could not imagine how long it would take to convert a B&W movie to color (or how the software/hardware does it). It is a very involved process on stills, so video must be 100x more difficult.

[BJ_M]

I occasionally convert B&W pictures to color for clients, and it literally takes HOURS per still image. I could not imagine how long it would take to convert a B&W movie to color (or how the software/hardware does it). It is a very involved process on stills, so video must be 100x more difficult.

you break up the picture (say the first frame) into elements (it does this almost automatic) and you assign a color to each area, which is tracked for x number of frames (the hard part) -- what some may not realize is that most colorized movies add very little color .. sometimes only 15-30% of the area -- but if its a key area -- your brain fills in the rest (if you dont think about it much) ..

it was first done by hand as in the still image method mentioned - but not as neatly -- you just tint whole gobs of area frame by frame..

better today (with computers) ---- but personally i hate it ..

nothing wrong with a B&W movie ...

[twodogs]

killmore,
start here with some demo software for pictures (not movies)
http://www.timebrush.com/blackmagic/bm_dloads.html

you'll soon put it in the "too hard basket" and enjoy the b&w movies.

[negon]

So this is actually possible? It would be different from the actual color that would have been captured with the right equipment had they used color equipment in the first place, right?

[housepig]

Negon -

it's possible, but it would be a giant pain in the ass.

it would be different or it would be the same, depending on who's doing the coloring. If you want to make someone's face green and their hair pink, you could do it.

rent "Night of the Living Dead", the colorized version... you'll see some evidence of this. why are all the zombies green? who the hell knows.

I think "Miracle on 34th Street" was another one... I remember some scene where everyone in the background was a uniform light brown color, including flesh tones...